Inkjet printheads typically move across print media, such as paper, one swath at a time while selectively ejecting ink droplets from nozzles to form a desired image. For thermal inkjet printheads prior to beginning each swath, ink in ejection chambers associated with each nozzle is pre-warmed to a uniform temperature in earlier designs for both monochrome and multi-color ejecting printheads. When printing only one or a few colors from a multi-color printhead, excess energy is used to pre-warm the ink of colors which are not used during the swath. Unnecessary heat applied to the printhead may cause premature aging, reducing printhead lifetime, as well as consuming additional power unnecessarily increasing operating and manufacturing costs in terms of oversized power supplies.